Gunpowder, Treason and Plot
by helsbels90
Summary: Whilst attending a conference at the beginning of a research trip to England, Robert meets Dr Livvie Masters and is drawn into a intriguing web of mystery surrounding an infamous plot that was foiled over four hundred years ago. Set after the first 2 books, not necessarily historically accurate. Rated for potential language.
1. Chapter 1: Introductions

**Chapter 1: Introductions.**

Author's Note: Please note that while some of the historic details included later in this story are accurate, others are completely fictional. I would also greatly appreciate reviews, as I'm not sure where this story will go. Helsbels90

Olivia sighed discreetly as another young academic took to the lectern at the front of the large room. She was just over half way through the second of a three day conference, and this was the one hour and a half long session she had absolutely no interest in. Normally Olivia enjoyed these events, watching postgraduate students present and display their usually outstanding work, and this was no different (except for this sitting), although there was the odd ridiculous theory, outlandish proposal or downright boring speaker; that was just part of the course. Having no interest in the economic history of Russia, Olivia found it difficult to concentrate on the topic being presented, she was a Tudor and Stuart historian and she wanted to get her teeth in to something resembling early modern history. She was staring out of the window at the rain that was falling heavily, when the door opened and someone quietly slipped into the room. Olivia bit her lip to prevent a smile spreading across her face, and found all her attention focused on the newly arrived male who stood discreetly at the side of the room, listening intently to the last part of the current paper. She knew exactly who he was, having immediately recognised him from the small pictures on the inside cover of the many books Olivia owned that he had authored. It was Professor Robert Langdon himself. One of the most famous and praised symbologists and Church historians ever to have walked the earth, and he was stood a few feet away from her. There was no way she would be able to concentrate now.

Finally the paper reached its conclusion and a twenty minute coffee break was announced, Olivia rose and headed to the table in the foyer to retrieve a caffeine fix. Moving away slightly from the refreshments, she grimaced as she took a sip of the lukewarm liquid that claimed to be coffee.

"Awful isn't it?" A soft American voice chuckled. Olivia looked up, nodding in agreement, to find herself face to face with Robert Langdon.

"Dreadful" She grinned in reply, noticing he was reading her slanted name badge.

"Are you the Olivia Masters who wrote the article on Shakespeare and symbology last year?" Langdon questioned.

"Yes I am." Olivia stuttered, amazed that he had heard of her work, she began to blush and then realised he might be a critic and not a fan.

"It was an amazing piece, and very well written. I'm Robert Langdon, I'm very pleased to finally meet you Dr Masters – I was hoping to try and pay a visit while on my trip, but it looks like fate has put us in the same room." He held out his hand for her to shake in greeting, which she did beaming from ear to ear.

"It's Olivia, please, or Livvie." She was about to continue to explain what an honour it was to meet him and how much respect and awe she had for his work, but they were interrupted.

"Robert! Robert, we are so thrilled you could stand in at such short notice; I cannot tell you how grateful we are to have your input. Now come and meet the other members of the organising committee." Claudia screeched as she approached from the other side of the room. Olivia resisted the powerful urge to roll her eyes at the insufferable woman. Everything about her irritated Olivia: her horrendously bad make-up, overpowering perfume, screechy voice, poor manners and her lack of decent academic work – although that didn't seem to prevent her from having her fingers in an awful lot of pies. She also hated the way that Claudia Somerson insisted on flirting outrageously with every male she came into contact with. Robert looked at Olivia with a mixture of fear and regret before, smiling an apology as Claudia attached herself to his arm and tugged.

"If you'll excuse me I need to find one of my students, he's presenting in the next session – I should give him some reassurance for the first paper nerves" Olivia smiled, excusing herself and lessening Robert's guilt.

For the next session Olivia had managed to get a seat on the front row to show her doctoral student extra support; she was surprised when Robert took the seat next to her. During the paper, he used her distraction to discreetly analyse the woman in the next seat. She was tall, not overly so, but graceful with it, and slender; although she seemed to have curves and shape in all of the right places. Instinctively his eyes flew to her left hand, there was no wedding or engagement band on her ring finger – he was surprised, in his experience women of her description were always taken; maybe there was some long term partner he mused. His eyes moved up to her face, it was very pretty and framed with her shoulder length dark blonde hair, what Robert found the most pleasing was the fact that she seemed to be unaware of her attractiveness. Feeling ridiculous, he gave his head a small shake, he hadn't even had a complete conversation with this woman, reading her publications did not count as a courtship, what was he thinking?

As the speakers changed over, quiet conversation erupted across the room, Olivia turned to him.

"So how come you are here? Your name isn't in the programme anywhere." She inquired, curiosity getting the better of her.

"I was heading over here for a research trip, then a couple of days ago I got a desperate plea from an old colleague to say that the key note speaker had had to drop out, would I consider travelling a few days earlier and stepping in. And so here I am. Finding out that you were here as well when I arrived was a bonus, as I said earlier I was hoping to meet you."

"You were being serious earlier then?" Olivia probed "I thought you were just being polite", Robert laughed.

"I'm sure we've both been to enough of these events to know when someone is being genuine or merely polite. I take it you are going to the dinner this evening?"

"I am yes, and very much looking forward to hearing the stand in speaker now!" Olivia grinned.

"Can I ask you a favour then? Please save me from Claudia, I can't imagine having to sit next to her the entire evening, and if I did I'm not sure that I would survive." Robert explained only half jesting.

"I suppose Andy and I could act as your bodyguards – my student, he's speaking next, we could flank you and fend her off!"

"I would be forever in your debt!" Robert smiled a genuine smile, and Olivia understood why women were attracted to the self proclaimed bachelor, before turning her attention to the session.

Robert had thoroughly enjoyed his evening, he decided as he lounged in an armchair in a corner of the bar area, listening to Olivia tell a horror story of an experience she had had at an archive as a student. He had managed to avoid Claudia for the most part, his speech had gone well, the food had been excellent and he had been able to spend most of the time with Livvie. They had discussed everything imaginable, from their work, to their student days, to their family – they had a remarkable amount in common. He leant forward to empty the last of the wine into their glasses.

"Can I tell you something?" Livvie began; he inclined his head to show she should continue "you are not at all how I expected you to be. I thought...well I thought you'd be really up yourself and superior."

"And you find that I'm not?" Robert grinned, showing his straight teeth, knowing she would probably not be revealing this had they not been finishing the third bottle of red wine.

"No you're not! You're really down to earth and approachable" She explained. Langdon knew that his students and colleagues and Harvard had labelled him as easy going, and true to form he was fine with that.

"I should probably confess that you weren't exactly what I was expecting either. I'd imagined – and don't ask me why – but I'd pictured this stuffy, middle aged woman with short hair and a frumpy trouser suit and flat shoes. I should know better than to create that kind of stereotype." Livvie looked down at her legs that were showcased by her knee length black dress and her stiletto heels and burst out laughing. Andy wandered back in from the smoking area, decided he had missed the joke completely and so excused himself to go to his room. Finishing the wine, the academics decided that it would be a good idea to retire for the evening.

As they walked towards their rooms, they were still talking animatedly, Livvie carrying the shoes she had removed in the lift.

"So what exactly are you planning on investigating during this research trip of yours?"

"To be honest I don't know – but I have become really obsessed with some conspiracy theories recently. Maybe we could discuss it more tomorrow. This is me" He said motioning to a door. "Would you like me to walk you to your room?" He offered, but Livvie declined graciously.

"No thank you, but I'll be fine, it's only down the corridor. Good night and thank you for a lovely evening."


	2. Chapter 2: The Phoenix

**Chapter 2: The Phoenix.**

Robert had barely had time to remove his suit jacket and tie, when someone knocked loudly on the door, he prepared to face the drunken guest who had probably mistaken his room for another – it was Friday night after all. When he opened the door his amiable smile vanished, Livvie stood before him looking as pale as a ghost and shaking slightly, he had no idea what was wrong.

"Someone was in my room, they've turned it upside down, everything is everywhere and I have no idea what they've taken." She managed in barely a whisper. Robert ushered her into his room and sat her down on the bed; while he called the reception desk who alerted the police and security.

"At least they were gone by the time you got back, good job we had the third bottle" Robert tried to reassure her, but she shook her head quickly "They were still there? I knew I should have insisted on walking you to your room!" He cursed himself for allowing her to return alone.

When the police arrived the questioned Livvie and some members of staff to ascertain how the intruder could have got in unnoticed. Then Livvie accompanied by Langdon went back to her room to find out if anything had been stolen, it was difficult to tell with the mess that had been left. One of the officers suggested that she imagined how she had left everything and what had been moved and/or removed. They discovered that her laptop had gone, along with her ipod and an external hard drive. The jewellery had been left untouched, as had some cash she had left in a drawer. The hotel had arranged for her to have another room and as the police officers were about to leave she noticed something else had been taken.

"My folders – I was looking through them before dinner, they were on the dressing table; but they aren't here now." Livvie exclaimed.

"What was in the folders?" The sergeant asked, clicking his pen and readying his notebook.

"My research"

"What kind of research are we talking about?"

"History, seventeenth century document transcriptions and some of my notes." She explained, the officer raised an eyebrow as he wrote, he clearly didn't think they were worth stealing.

"Right well, why don't you go and try and get some sleep in the room you've been moved to and we will finish up here and then secure the room. It could take some time for forensics to get here, and then the staff will pack your belongings up and have them moved to but that probably won't be until the morning. If you want to take your toiletries I'm pretty happy they haven't been touched."

Having retreated to the bathroom in her new room to wash her face, Livvie tried to relax as she heard Robert making a cup of tea for her in the other room. He handed her a tea cup before helping himself, watching as she sat in an arm chair curling her legs up underneath her.

"Did you have back ups?"

"Yeah, I've got another hard drive back in my office with copies of everything on. And luckily the folders weren't too full, but I've lost what was in them, it never occurred to me they would ever get stolen so I wasn't a slave to the photocopier." Livvie sighed with a shrug. "Hopefully someone will find them chucked away in the street and hand them in tomorrow – I doubt they would want to keep my scribbling."

After a terrible night's sleep, Olivia dragged herself down to breakfast; Robert offered her a knowing smile. She had already had to speak with the police again, after they had found something interesting on the wall behind the door in her original room.

"A phoenix?" Robert repeated stunned.

"Yeah, it was pinned to the wall behind the door, some kind of print out. The police have assumed its some kind of 'tag' from whoever broke in. But it's a bit weird isn't it?" Livvie explained sipping her coffee.

"I'll say!"

Despite the horrible events of the previous night, Livvie was enjoying the last day of the conference, but she had noticed that Andy was absent. At the lunch intermission she decided to go and find him; although he had already presented his piece neglecting to turn up for others did not show him in a favourable light. As she headed towards the lift Robert was making his way out, having just collected another notepad from his room.

"You know that debt you owe me – can I call it in? I need to go and try to rouse Andy and it doesn't really look good a female supervisor hanging around one of her male students rooms; would you come up there with me?"

"Sure" He laughed "A scandal like that would be terrible" He said in mock seriousness.

"Thanks, I've already tried ringing his room but there was no answer earlier."

They reached Andy's room and knocked loudly on the door. there was no answer. As a last attempt Livvie rang his mobile, they could hear it ringing inside the room. Robert looked at her in concern.

"I don't know about over here, but in the States students and their phones are one. They never leave them anywhere." Livvie nodded in agreement, she was now even more worried. A chambermaid passed, and smiled at them.

"Forgotten your key card? I'll let you in – just this once!" She smiled kindly and held her card to the censor. Livvie didn't actually lie to her, she just let her assume. Waiting until the maid had walked further down the corridor she pushed the door open, calling Andy's name. Suddenly she stopped just inside the doorway, Robert was just behind her and leaned around her to see what had brought her to an abrupt halt. His eyes widened as he saw the state of the room, belongings had been thrown around the room and furniture upturned. Then his eyes landed on Andy; his body was alongside the bed, surrounded by a pool of blood that was almost black on the cream carpet, a knife protruding from a wound in his neck. Horrified at the sight before her, Livvie's vision swam and for the first time in her life she fainted. Being stood behind her Robert saw his new friend sway before she collapsed and caught her, lowering her to the floor. As he looked around, his mind racing to work out what he should do, his eyes fell on the piece of paper lying on Andy's chest. Printed clearly onto the crisp white paper was the image of phoenix.


	3. Chapter 3, Rising from the Ashes

Chapter 3: Rising from the Ashes

Olivia's eyes fluttered open and she groaned as she tried to clear the fog that was impeding her brain. She desperately tried to work out where she was, until a smooth American voice convinced her everything was alright just by uttering her name.

"Olivia?" Langdon was concerned "Are you awake? Good, the police are on their way. You fainted, but you're going to be fine, it was just a shock." With his last sentence the horrible reality hit Olivia as if it was a car colliding with her slim frame; she took in a deep breath to fight the nausea she was experiencing as the scene came alive in her brain. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and when she opened them she realised she was sat against the wall in the corridor of the hotel outside of Andy's room.

"Did you see the...phoenix?" Livvie demanded wide-eyed, Langdon nodded sombrely "What does it mean?"

"I wish I could tell you – I know the literal meaning but why someone would be using it in this manner is a mystery to me" Langdon was genuinely lost for an explanation.

Four hours later, Livvie and Robert were allowed to leave the police station, having given statements, fingerprints and having answered every question imaginable. Robert found Livvie stood outside in the drizzle, near the front entrance.

"I don't want to go anywhere near that hotel. My friend has a flat not far from here – she's away for a few months and I have a spare key. There's two bedrooms and I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you crashed there too."  
"That would be brilliant. And I think that we need to have a proper chat when we get there!" Robert explained as Livvie began to lead the way. They stopped to pick up a pizza on the way, although neither of them were particularly hungry. Livvie immediately poured two very large glasses of red wine when they arrived at the luxurious central London apartment. "Is this friend another academic?"

"No she's a lawyer – hence the money to rent this place!" Livvie chuckled, curling her legs underneath her on the soft leather sofa. "What was it you wanted to have a chat about then?"

"Do you not think it's strange that the only two rooms targeted at the hotel were yours and Andy's? Is there some reason for that?"

"The police asked me the same questions Robert, and I told them apart from our research and supervision relationship there is absolutely nothing that connects us. The only explanation I can come up with is that whoever it was mistook us for someone else." Livvie explained as she took a long sip of her wine.

"What is the research?"

"Well, you heard Andy's paper yesterday – on the foreign policy of James I; and I've just started looking into the Gunpowder Plot again, with Andy's help."  
"What?"

"He is," Livvie paused swallowing with discomfort before correcting herself "Andy was my research assistant." Her mouth opened slightly as Robert's eyes met hers. "The phoenix"

"Commonly associated with notions of resurrection, and obviously linked with ashes and fire." Langdon reeled off, "As is..."

"Gunpowder" Livvie finished the statement for him. "But I don't understand the Plot was like four centuries ago, why would someone be chasing us now for looking into it for the purposes of publishing a book that will only be brought and read by a handful of academics. Surely it can't be that!"

"I don't know Livvie I wish that I did. Exactly what angle were you hoping to come from in this work?"

"I'm intrigued by the possibility that it was all a set up – that the plot was orchestrated by Salisbury or other Government figures close to the King, to encourage more persecution of Catholics and to show how wonderful they were themselves. There's so many discrepancies when you delve into the facts." Livvie was in full flow

"I know – how did known recusants get permission to rent a property so close to the Houses of Parliament and get hold of that much gunpowder when its sale was restricted? I mean sure they could have got it on the sly, but they then had to get all of the barrels in to the house unnoticed, that is a lot of coincidences"

"And then there was the tunnel – the plotters confessed to its existence under intense interrogation, and we all know what that means; but no tunnel was ever found. The house they were renting already had an under croft which went right under the first floor of the House of Lords, they were storing the powder there and the explosion would have been big enough to cause monumental damage to the entire complex, so why would they have needed a tunnel..." Olivia suddenly looked up from her wine glass "How do you know so much about this, it's not your normal field?"

"You know that conspiracy theory I said I'd become obsessed with?" Langdon smiled a boyish grin, lighting his eyes up, Livvie was momentarily mesmerised by his attractiveness.

"Please tell me this is a good coincidence and that you're not some psycho history obsessed serial killer" Livvie said, only half jesting.

"My interest in purely academic I assure you!"

The next morning Robert and Livvie received calls from the police to say they could leave London as they were no longer required to assist in their inquiries, as long as they were contactable by phone. They headed for the hotel, collected their belongings and then boarded a train for York so that they could look at the many materials Livvie had already collected. Shortly after catching a connecting train Livvie had another phone call.

"Apparently someone tried to break into my office last night!" Livvie grimaced.

"They didn't manage it?"

"No security interrupted them and they got away without actually getting through the door. I'm guessing that is no coincidence."

"This may sound paranoid, but I'm not really sure that it's a good idea that you stay at your home. These people are pretty serious about getting their hands on all of your work."  
"I know. What do you suggest?"

"Hire a holiday place or something?"

"My neighbour has one about twenty miles away – I could text her, see if it's available. She doesn't get many customers in the winter" Livvie explained, pulling her phone out.


End file.
